Description of the attraction
Rumeli Hisary Fortress, or Rumeli Fortress, is located on the European coast of Istanbul between two bridges over the Bosphorus in its narrowest part, to the north of the Bebek region. It was built in 1452 opposite another fortress of Anadulu Hisary, located on the Asian coast of the strait and was a strategically important object of the Ottoman Empire on the Bosphorus, guarding the gates of the Golden Horn Bay.
The castle was built for that time in record time - 4 months and 16 days. The total area of the building was more than 30 thousand square meters. m. After the construction of Rumeli, it became impossible to sail the Bosphorus, the narrow place between the fortresses, and the fortress itself was nicknamed "the cut throat."
A garrison of janissaries was organized in Rumeli Hisary, who daily shot through the strait with their giant cannons, and the passage of all foreign ships along the Bosphorus was prohibited. Once a Venetian ship tried to break into the city and ignored the signal to stop. He was immediately sunk, and all the sailors who miraculously survived were impaled. Since that time, the cannons installed in the fortress were used as warning volleys and fireworks.
After the fall of Constantinople, the fortress served as a customs checkpoint. The buildings of the citadel were badly damaged, first during an earthquake in 1509, and then during a fire in 1746. Soon Rumeli Hisary completely lost its strategic importance and was converted into a prison.
The fortress consists of 3 large (round) and 13 small towers, which were interconnected by thick, ten-meter walls.
Each of the main towers leading to the fortress had three gates. The south tower also had a secret gateway for food warehouses and an arsenal. Inside the citadel there were wooden barracks in which there were soldiers and a small mosque, under which there was a large reservoir.
The renovation of the fortress was timed to coincide with the five hundredth anniversary of the conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1953, but it was completely restored only in 1958. The Summer Theater and the Museum of Artillery were opened in the fortress in 1960. Now there is a park and an amphitheater inside with rows of stone seats for concerts. There are no fences on the walls here, the steps are steep and uneven. Climb them very carefully. The height in some places reaches twenty meters, which also serves as a good reason not to climb there once again, but just calmly sit on the benches and enjoy the views from the fortress.
